Blanket-printing process and machine



y 7 w. E. CAFFRAY BLANKET PRINTING PROCESS AND MACHINE lllllrlll II I II I l l l I l I. 5

Filed July 25. 1925 the blanket must turing I the blanket. The

Paumtedv Maya, 1927.

g I 4 1.626.595; U T D. STATES PATENT omen. 1

WILLIAM E." cmmx, or, NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, assreuon roiynsiiua mine. I racrunmo COMPANY, or NASHUA, new HAMPSHIRE, A conrona'rrou or'amw HAMPSHIRE.

BLAlVKET-PBIN'IING rnocnss AND MACHINE.

Application filed July 25, 1925. Serial No. 46,035.

This invention relates to the manufacture of printed blankets.

I In Patent No. 1,495,141, granted May 20, 1924, a process of manufacturing'printed 5 blankets is disclosed which has practically revolutionized the manufacture of blankets bearing designs involving irre ular figures. Prior to the invention disclose in'said patent such blankets were made almost uni- 10 versally through the use of the Jacquard mechanism or a dobby attachment, it being regarded as impossible to print a blanket fabric successfully because of its excessive thickness and the fact that both sides of present the same design. The process disclosed in said patent, however, has proved very successful in practice, and efiects a very substantial saving in the expense of manufacture of fancy blankets.

The present invention is especially concerned with the process disclosed in said patent, and it aims to improve and erfect said process and to devise a satis actory mechanism for practicing it. In 'manufacblankets according to said process, the usual practice is to make a lain blanket fabric and print it on one si e before the fabric is napped, using suflicient ink to penetrate through design comesthrough to the unprinted side rather unevenly and presents a blotchy or irregular appearance.

2 Subsequently, after the blanket has been I dried, it is napped and this operation fpulls through to the unprinted side enough bres which have been colored by the ink to repro-,

duce the design very satisfactorily on the latter'side of the goods.

The present invention aims especially to improve the penetration of the mk and to reproduce the design on the unprinted side of the goods, both prior to and also after na ping, more clearly than has been possib e heretofore. The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following descrip- 7 tion when read in connection withthe accompanying drawings, and the tures will be particularly pointed out in I the appended claims.

In the drawings, I Figure I is a-diagrammatic view of an apparatus constructed in accordance with I the present invention;

to the opposite side. of

vthe engraved roll 2 and novel fea- Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view through portions of the printing roll and press roll;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view through V the suction tube;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the suction apparatus; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View showing an apparatus which canbe used in printing several colors.

The apparatus shown comprises an engraved or printing roll 2, a roll or brush 3 for delivering ink or color thereto from a trough or tank 4, and a scraper or doctor 5 for scraping off the surplus ink from the roll 2. Mounted in cooperative rela; tionship to the printin roll 2 is a press roll 6, the rolls 2 and (flieing supported by suitable bearing mechanism to enable them to be forced together with great pressure...

The blanket fabric F to be printed is un: wound from a roll 7, Fig. 1, and is led over a series of guide rolls, to and around the press roll 6 where the design isprintedon it. It is .then guided on additional rolls to drying drums 9 from which it is usually led to an additional drying apparatus an finally is either wound up or folded, as de-, sired.

A backer cloth the press roll 6 during the printing operation. This cloth preferably is a relatively heavy fabric and it may be run into position initially. from a roll 10. After being run in the ends are joined together so that the cloth is, in efl'fect, an endless belt. This cloth, after leaving the press roll- 6,-is guided over a roll 12 under rolls 13-13 to a series of drying drums-14 and then runsover rolls '15, 16 and 17 to the press rollag'ain. A winding mechanism is provided-at 18 by'means of which the backer cloth may be wound whenever it is desired to remove it from the machine, as for example, for laundering.

Interposed between the backer cloth and the press roll 6 is a rubber blanket Rwhich -is guided on. the rolls 12,. 19'and' 20.

B is interposed between i In order to apply enough ink to the blanket during the. printing .operationto penetrate through to the opposite side of the fabric, the engraving inthe printing roll 2 is cut very deeply, as indicatedjn Fig. 2. The rubber blanket R and the hacker cloth B both cooperate with the press roll 6 to press the'blanket fabric F to be printed against the engraved roll with a very severe pressure so that the ink is mechanically forced into the fabric F, this pressure also 6 serving to force the blanket firmly into the grooves and engraved areas of the printing roll.

For the purpose of still further forcing the ink into the blanket, air pressure is applied to the printed side of the blanket immediately after it has left the press roll. This can be done in any suitable manner, but, as shown, a suction box or tube 22, (see Figs. 1, 3-and 4) is arranged just above the press roll 6 where the blanket will pass over it as it travels from the latter roll to the first guide roll 11, Fig. 1. A slot 23, Figs. 3 and 4, is formed in the portion of this tube engaged by the blanket, and a 20 strong suction is maintained in the tube by means of a suction pump 24 driven by a motor 25. As the blanket fabric passes across the sloti23, the air pressure against the printed side of the blanket forces the ink through to the unprinted side. This actionyis very noticeable when the machine is in operation. That is, looking at the back side of the blanket after it leaves the press.

roll 6, the design appears irregular and mottled, but immediate y after passing the suction box 22 the design appears very distinctly, and in factis almost as sharp and well defined as on the printed side of the fabric.

After being printed the fabric is dried and the color is set in any usual or convenient manner. The printed fabric next is 'napped, and this operation serves to draw through to the unprinted surface of the goods an abundance of fibres which have been colored by the printing ink thus reproducing the design so clearly on this surfaceof the goods that it is practically impossible to tell the printed from the unprinted side of the fabric. The process and apparatus above described has proved to be very successful in practice, and I consider that the success is due in a very great measure to three factors: first, the fact-that an abundance of ink is used in performing the printing operation; second, the mechanical pressing of the ink into the blanket fabric during said operation; and third, the driving of the ink through the fabric to the unprinted side by air pressure immediately after the printing operation.

The engraving roll 2 shown in Fig. 1 has a circumference approximately equal to the length of the blanket so that an individual design is printed on each blanket. When a design is used, however, which repeats two, three, or more times on a blanket, a much smaller roll is used.

Also, when it is desired to print several colors on the blanket additional printing rolls are used with the press roll 6, each printing roll applying a single color. Such an arrangement is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5 in whichfour printing rolls 26, 27, 28 and 29 are operatively associated with the press roll 6, each of the printing rolls being equipped with its own color supplying apparatus and with a scraper or doctor.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. That improvement in the process of manufacturing blankets which consists in printing a design on one side of a blanket fabric, pressing the printing ink into the fabric mechanically, subsequently applying air pressure to the printed side of the blanket to force the printing ink through the fabric, later drying the fabric, and, subsequently napping the fabric.

2. That improvementin the process of manufacturing blankets which consists in printing a design on one side of a blanket fabric before the opposite side has been napped, subsequently applying-suction to the unprinted side of the blanket to draw the printing ink through to the latter side of the fabric, then drying the fabric, and later napping the fabric'on the unprinted side.

3. That improvement in the process of manufacturing printed blankets which consists in printing a design on one side of a blanket fabric, applying sufficient ink in performing said printing operation to penetrate 100 through to the opposite side of the fabric, applying air pressure to the printedside of the fabric immediately after the printing opera tion to draw the ink through to the unprinted side of the fabric, subsequently drying the fabric, and later. napping thefabrlc.

4. That improvement in the process of manufacturing printed blankets which consists in printing a design on one side of a blanket fabric, ressing the printing ink into the fabric mec anically, applying a sufficient quantity of ink to the fabric in performing said printing operation to penetrate throu h to the opposlte side of the fabric, forcing t e printing ink through the fabric byair pressure immediately after the printing operation has been performed, subsequently drying the fabric, and later napping the fabric on the unprinted side.

5. An apparatus for printing blanket fabrics comprising, in combination, a printing roll, another roll for pressing the fabric against the printing roll, means for supplying ink to the printing roll, and means for applying a substantially greater air pressure on the printed than on the unprinted side of the fabric immediately after said printing operation has been performed to cause the ink to penetrate through the fabric.

6. An apparatus for printing blanket fabrics comprising a printing roll, another roll for pressing the fabric against the printing roll, means for supplying ink to the printing roll, and means ,for applying suction to the unprinted side of the fabric immediately after it has been printed to cause the ink to penetrate the fabric.

7. An apparatus for printing blanket fabrics comprising a printing roll, another roll for pressing the fabric against the printing roll, a suction box across which the fabric j passes immediately after leaving the printing roll with the unprinted side of the fabric in contact with the box, and means for supporting and guiding said fabric.

8. An apparatus for printing blanket fabrics comprising a printing roll, a press roll for pressing the fabric against the printing roll, a suction box across which the fabric passes immediately after leaving the printing roll with the unprinted side of the fabric in contact with the box, a backer cloth, rolls for guiding the backer cloth between the blanket fabric and the press roll during the printing operation, and rolls for supporting and guiding the blanket fabric, the guiding rolls for the backer cloth and blanket fabric being arranged to separate the cloth and fabric before they reach the suction box, and to cause the blanket fabric only to run in contact with the suction box.

9. An apparatus for printin blanket fabrics comprising a printing rol a press roll for pressing the fabric against the printing roll, means for supplying ink to the print ing roll, a suction box across which the fabric passes immediately after leaving the printing roll with the unprinted side of the fabric in contact with the box, a backer cloth, rolls for guiding the backer cloth between the blanket fabric and the press roll during the printing operation, a rubber blanket, and means for guiding the blanket between said backer cloth and the press roll during the printing operation.

WILLIAM E. OAFFRAY. 

